God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
by Legend96
Summary: Jade sings for him when he needs it most. Dave returns her the favor later on. "This holy tide of Christmas doth bring redeeming grace."


**Disclaimer: It's Homestuck. I am not Andrew Hussie. I do not own anything.**

_**God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen**_

Jade dropped the gun; she turned around to look at the bullet riddled Dave. He was staring down at his chest, both hands up and over his stomach, shaking. "Jade," he whispered, and Jade whipped around to look at the dog carapace monster in front of her – the monster with Bec's powers – and then ran over to Dave just as he collapsed.

The snow turned red. Jade swallowed the lump in her throat. "Jade," Dave said again, and Jade almost thought she could see his eyes behind his shades, wide and panicked and terrified. She dropped to her knees and crawled around to his head, sitting back on her calves. Her hands – shaking as badly as his had been moments ago – lifted his head and placed it in her lap. Elevating him should keep his airways clear.

He could make it through this. He was her cool kid. Cool kids always made it through.

"Jade," he said. "Sing to me. Please."

She gave a pathetic laugh, and placed her hands on his cheeks. He reached up, bloodstained fingers grasping at her wrist, and he pulled her hand away. "I can't sing, Dave," she said, her voice cracking. Tears she hadn't even realized were welling spilled onto her cheeks. He tapped the inside of her wrist with his finger, one, two, three, four, a constant rhythm.

"C'mon," he said. "For me. I'm even giving you a beat."

She smiled through her tears, trying to keep herself together. One glance up at the monster – Jack Noir turned Bec Noir – told her everything she needed to know. He was frozen, watching. Jade would be okay. She looked back down at Dave, going through her mind, trying to think of a song he could listen to that might soothe him. "Okay," she said.

It was a Christmas song, and even if it was four months after the day, her land, full of snow and pine trees and the occasional and out of place ribbit reminded her of the day. "Okay," she said again. "Here goes."

And she sang it, a haunting chorus of words, and she felt Dave grasp her wrist tighter even as his counting and rhythm began to falter. Jade's voice faltered with it, cracking at the high notes, and she felt him leave, could hear his breath disappear, did not see the white mist in front of his mouth anymore even as she sang, "_O, tidings of comfort and joy_," a final time.

And then came the message that if she kissed him – his dead, holy, bloody body and his even bloodier lips – she could save him. She didn't hesitate, and when she pulled back she whispered one of the lines of the later verses of the same song. "This holy tide of Christmas doth bring redeeming grace."

_**Let Nothing You Dismay**_

Dave watched with a half horrified expression as Jade approached them, a cloud of green around her, her eyes wide and feral, her lips pulled back over sharp teeth in a deathly grin. Her hands were flexed, claws for fingers, massive amounts of her space-y energy radiating in her palms. Her skin was grey. Her hair was wilder than he remembered.

She was absolutely terrifying. It was a far cry from the dork he'd been friends with, the girl who'd saved his life even after putting in peril back on her planet. He remembered big round glasses around big, round, happy green eyes. He remembered straight shoulders, a straight back, a confidence in her. He remembered a wide smile and ringing laughter that made him want to laugh as well. And he definitely remembered the way she'd held the gun, the way she'd screamed when she fired it, the way she'd sung to him when he died.

He shuddered, and turned to Rose. "That's not Harley," he said. "That's not our cute little dork from the island. That's a puppet and it's scary as hell, Lalonde." Rose held up a hand, her eyes narrowed. She stared at Jade as she approached, and Dave turned his gaze back to her. Jade landed on the ground in front of them. Her head tilted. Her grin – impossibly – widened.

"You're harboring John," she said simply. It was so easy. So incredibly easy. Three words that made Dave shudder, and three words that made Rose fold her arms across her chest. "No," she said. Rose's words were easy, too. "We have not seen from or heard from our mutual friend, Jade." Fluid, smooth, a complete lie but Jade didn't have mind powers, she couldn't hear the quivering in Rose's voice because it wasn't there, there was absolutely no way to prove that they'd seen John –

"You're lying. I can smell the lie, Rose. And I can smell John, too."

Shit.

_**Remember Christ Our Savior**_

Jade's grin dropped. Her hands tensed up, and Dave watched them do so. He swallowed. Jade's eyes landed on him, and all of a sudden there were two bright green flashes, one right after the other, and she was there, right in front of him. He blinked rapidly behind his shades, taking a step back. Her hand came up and grasped at the front of his shirt.

He blinked once more. "C'mon, Harley," he said. "Like we really know where mister elusive pranking master John Egbert is." His words were fluid, smooth, just as fluid and smooth as Rose's were. Must've been a Stri-Londe thing. Jade's eyes narrowed and she dragged him closer to her. Their noses practically touched. Dave patted the hand curled in a fist in his shirt. "Personal space, Harley. You know a thing or two about space, right?"

She growled. It was low, dangerous, like a fight dog who liked fighting, didn't have to poked or prodded to do it. A dog that lived to serve its masters, no matter what it had to do. A dog that enjoyed all of it. Jade was under some sort of control. Going grimbark hadn't been anything like Rose's going grimdark. Rose fell into it. Jade had been forced.

Dave watched the green swirl in Jade's eyes. Her shoulders were shaking. She was struggling. Some part of her was struggling, and Dave wrapped both of his hands around hers. Jade's eyes flinched, narrowing further, her eyebrows furrowing. "Tell me where he is," she snapped, jerking him back and then forwards again. She was strong, Dave noted. If he wasn't careful he could be hurt and then she'd definitely find John because there's no way Rose would be able to hold her own against Jade if Dave couldn't. He thought of flash stepping. He said no to that thought, Jade would follow him.

_**Was Born On Christmas Day**_

"Jade," he said lowly. Her grip tightened. So did his. "Jade. Listen to me. Something's got control of you."

"Yeah," she answered back, growling again. "An actual empress with a goal, a goal she needs John for." Dave could hear Karkat scramble and grab onto Kanaya's and Terezi's hands. Jade's eyes flicked back towards them, and Dave turned his head ever so slightly to get a look at Karkat. He'd frozen in his tracks. Jade was looking at him.

"Tell me where he is," Jade said, starting to drop Dave. But Dave held onto her hand, keeping her from letting go of his shirt. "Jade," he said again. She looked at him, angry, enraged even. She was about to hiss something, and before she could, he asked, "Do you remember the song?"

She froze completely. Her shaking stopped, and whatever internal struggle she was having stopped as well. The green cloud around her, comprised entirely of what he assumed to be her space-y energy stopped swirling, standing on end in curled, sharp points. "Because I remember the song," he said. "I remember every word you sang to me. When Noir got the best of us and he left you alone because of some lasting loyalty your damn weird dog had to you."

Jade's jaw tightened, and her eyes closed. Dave moved one hand to her wrist, his pointer finger tapping, one, two, three, four, a constant rhythm. "Sing with me, Jade," he said. "I know your voice is crap, but so is mine. C'mon, Harley, sing with me."

_**To Save Us All From Satan's Power**_

Jade was growling again, shaking. She was fighting herself again. She was fighting whatever influence had a grip on her. Dave watched her closely, carefully, still tapping. "God rest ye merry gentlemen," he started. Jade's growl elevated in volume until it turned into a downright snarl. "Shut. Up," she ground out. Her lips were pulled back over her teeth again, but this was no grin. This _was keep quiet or I'll rip your throat out with my surprisingly elongated and actually more terrifying than they have a right to be fangs._

Dave continued. "Let nothing you dismay – " Jade jerked him again, but there was no threat of Dave losing his throat. He cleared it quickly, trying to rid himself of his nerves. He was dealing with a very angry, very unstable, highly werewolf like, incredibly powerful, mildly horrifying version of one of his friends. "Remember Christ our savior was born on Christmas day."

Jade's snarl strengthened.

_**When We Were Gone Astray**_

Dave took a deep breath, still tapping the inside of her wrist. He remember faltering as he faded, and he wondered if he should do so now, force the memory back up, give whatever was left of their Jade something to latch onto and fight against the influence in her mind. He wouldn't dare, not just yet, and sang, "To save us all from Satan's power."

He watched Jade's ears flinch as his voice cracked on the high note, but her snarling had started to dim. Her grip on his shirt was loosening again, and there was something solidifying in her eyes. The color in her irises was retreating back into a normal circle, and regaining their usual shade of green. He swallowed again, an audible gulp. "C'mon, Harley, I know you know the song. Sing with me."

_**O, Tidings Of Comfort And Joy (Comfort And Joy)**_

She was shuddering. Dave kept tapping. He waited a few moments, watching Jade's jaw work, and when he heard a squeak of her voice – the nice voice, the voice that wasn't commanding and controlling and sounding like it could eat you in point five seconds flat – he urged her on. "Harley – Jade, c'mon. When we were gone astray," he sang.

"W-when we were gone astray," she struggled out at the same time. Dave smirked at her. "Was that so hard?" he asked, and her grip tightened and some strong remnant of the influence returned for a split second before there was a long exhalation of a hiss and the grip was let go entirely. Dave followed her to her knees, keeping her one wrist in his hand, still tapping, keeping a beat she could follow. She held her head in her free hand, leaning towards him.

He urged her surprisingly compliant, albeit distracted body, into lying down, and he sat back on his calves much as she had. He moved his freehand and lifted her head onto his lap, looking down at her as his fingers tapped still. "C'mon, Harley, what's the next line?" he asked. She looked up at him, her eyes solidifying further, and he could see her skin tone fading from the dark grey to a lighter shade of it.

Her jaw was still working.

"O, tidings of comfort and joy…," she struggled out, and then her eyes shut and her body went limb. Rose rushed over and placed a hand to her forehead even as Jade's skin returned to its normal color, and a few moments later, with Karkat and Kanaya and Terezi standing shocked and John somewhere in the air still and Rose making sure Jade was still alive, she woke up.

And she looked Dave in the face, and gave a weak smile but it was Jade's smile – it was his dork's smile, it meant she'd pulled through whatever had happened to her, it was the smile she'd given him when they'd first met – and she sang, "This holy tide of Christmas doth bring redeeming grace."

Dave couldn't help himself. "Yeah, our favorite colors are kinda Christmas-y when paired together, aren't they?"

She laughed.

He kissed her out of sheer relief.

_**O, Tidings Of Comfort And Joy**_

**AN: I need to write something and I started reading Dave/Jade fanfic. And then, out of nowhere, I was reminded of this picture I'd drawn around Christmas when my glee class had been rehearsing this song for a sort of caroling activity and I turned it into a fic.**

**Because apparently, that's what I do to get over writer's block.**

**The more you know.**

**Enjoy~**


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